


definitely not jealous

by orphan_account



Category: Captain America - All Media Types
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Fluff and Humor, Jealous Steve Rogers, M/M, Post-Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), Sam Wilson Is a Good Bro, The Avengers Are Good Bros, steve is an idiot, this was just an excuse to write a matt murdock and bucky barnes friendship tbh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-25
Updated: 2017-05-25
Packaged: 2018-11-04 23:12:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11000994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: “I want him to be happy. Even if he does remember we used to be together, and just wouldn’t be happy with me anymore than… Fine. I’m fine with that”Sam raises an eyebrow, “But…”Defeated, Steve shrugs and continues, “But… You can’t expect me to be happy with the thought of the guy I’m in love with banging his gym-buddy.”(bucky makes friends with a certain attorney from hell's kitchen. steve isfine)





	definitely not jealous

**Author's Note:**

> just pretend ca:tws ended and bucky came back to live with steve rather than running off to god-knows-where. 
> 
> as the tags said: this was literally just an excuse to write a matt/bucky friendship. (also a sam wilson/peter parker friendship which... I didn't know I needed in my life until I accidecanlly wrote it?)
> 
> enjoy :-)

“Where’s your other — significantly more horrifying — other half?” Tony asks when Steve walks in to the newly refurbished Stark Towers laboratory. Steve has his head bowed while he swipes through a digitized report on his Stark tablet.

He picks his head up with a confused frown, “Are you talking about Bucky?”

“No,” Tony turns to continue fiddling with the glove of his latest suit, “The other grumpy zombie assassin that follows you around everywhere.”

“He’s not a zombie.” Steve mumbles half-heartedly. Grumpy, maybe.

“Semantics.” Tony is already consumed in his work again. From the far side of the room, Bruce walks in with a tablet matching Steve’s. Without preamble, he joins Tony’s side and starts picking apart the collection of wires in his hand.

Steve had just been walking through to get to the lounge opposite them. He likes reading his reports with a bird's-eye view of the city (while always a fan of the old-fashioned, he does indulge in the 21st century _sometimes_.)

But his mind is far away now. He climbs the stairs; looking intently at the small words on the screen while failing to read them. _Where is Bucky_.

Technically Steve knows where Bucky is — or at least has a general idea. It’s nearly 7pm, which means Bucky is at the ‘gym’ he started frequenting a few weeks ago.

“It closes at 6,” He’d said quietly, “but the owner’s real nice and lets me go in to use the shit.”

And that was all Steve knows about the mysterious ‘gym’. He knows Bucky works out till about midnight, and he knows he likes to tussle with a friend he made there — some guy who also comes in after-hours.

Which is fine of course. Why wouldn’t it be fine?

“You look like you’re thinking too hard.” Natasha says, and her smooth voice makes Steve jump. She stalks around the far end of the couch and sits across from him.

Steve shakes his head, and as if to prove his point he continues reading the sentence he’s been trying to focus on for the past 15 minutes.

“Trouble in paradise?”

“We’re not…” Steve sighs. He scrubs a hand down his face and looks up at Natasha with what he assumes are pleading eyes. Natasha quirks her eyebrow. She’s not giving up on this one. “We’re not together. Not… Y’know not after everything.”

“But...” She twirls a finger through the air, as if contemplating a math equation in her head, “You are.”

Steve licks his lips and shrugs half-heartedly, “When we were kids we… Y’know we were pretty much ‘together’ since we were like 13 years old. We never put a name to it or anything — it wasn’t like we could tell people anyways.”

Steve leans forward and slides his tablet onto the low coffee table in front of them. Natasha is leveling him with an unmoving glare. When he first met her, that look made chills tickle up his spine. It still does, but now he realizes it’s her ‘encouragingly curious’ glare. For someone so mastered in emotions, she’s really terrible at not being terrifying.

Steve continues on, “And now, after everything, I don’t wanna pressure him. I haven’t brought up the fact we were, y’know, romantically involved. I don’t want to just throw that at him. I especially don’t want him to misconstrue anything I do for him. Partners or not, I love Bucky with everything I got — I’m not just doing this to get in his pants again, y’know?”

Natasha smiles, “But that’s not what’s on your mind.”

Steve furrows his eyebrows and shifts in his seat. He picks at his cuticles and shrugs, maybe a bit juvenilely. “It’s nothing.”

Natasha is going to press him further, but at that moment booming footsteps come pounding up the steps. “Friends!” Thor shouts, “I have found a new application for my smart cellphone! You must all play with me this game, Words with Friends!”

—

“Alright, now don’t go easy on me” Clint says as he wraps up his knuckles. Steve sits on the sidelines of the wrestling mat. He smirks at Clint who shoots Bucky a nervous grin. Bucky notices and laughs huskily.

“Now why the hell would I go easy on you, Barton?”

The gym is nearly empty, save the handful of Stark’s agents quietly milling about (some not-so-subtly watching the Winter Soldier and Hawkeye.)

“Remember Buck” Steve says, “Clint has a family who loves him dearly. So no fatal injuries” He gives his best friend a smirk.

“I’m sure he can manage with a few broken ribs though, yeah?” Bucky shrugs one shoulder, “Broken nose?”

Steve scoffs, “C’mon who needs a workin’ nose anyways? ‘Sides it ain’t like he’s that handsome _now._ ”

Bucky waves a hand through the air dismissively, “A man hasn’t lived until he’s lived with a broken jaw—“

“Alright, grandpas.” Clint interrupts loudly, “You guys wanna start swapping war stories next? Talk about these newfangled refrigerators while you’re at it?”

Bucky finishes wrapping his knuckles and mutters, “ _Ice boxes_. They’re called ice boxes.”

Steve has a warm, light feeling in his chest. When Bucky was New York City’s best teenage boxer, Steve used to sit just like he is now — his elbows rested on his knees, eyes wide and admiring — and watch Bucky do… Well, just this. Watch him wrap up his hands and shoot playful jests at his opponent. Steve would chime in (always backing his guy up) and snicker into his hands while Bucky kept up the charade.

It almost feels like that now.

Clint and Bucky go at it — Bucky a powerhouse of muscle and strength, and Clint a slightly built bolt of energy. He doesn’t swing as much as he ducks, and defends against Bucky’s blows.

Steve’s watched this song-and-dance probably hundreds of times. Against Sam (who inevitably ends up on his back, complaining loudly about being ‘too old for this shit’), against Natasha (who always wins, somehow), hell even against Thor (who can never seem to keep the upper hand against Bucky for very long).

He knows what to expect — knows Bucky’s best moves, and knows when he’s playing a fake out. He watches with an endeared, hardly-there smile.

Clint suddenly lets out an “oof!” and Steve’s attention is snapped back to the present. Bucky moved so quickly Steve could hardly understand what had just happened. Bucky had expertly ducked, slammed a fist against Clint’s abdomen, and moved around him so smooth he could’ve been Natasha’s personal protege.

Clint went down within seconds. It was nothing like Bucky’s usual method of fighting which is brash, in-your-face, and unrelenting. This is rather smooth, elegant, and almost like the martial-arts style he’s seen Tony practice against a punching bag.

“Where’d you learn that?” Steve asks the second Clint is back on his feet. Bucky looks over, tucking a strand of dark hair behind his ear.

He shrugs, and for a moment he looks bashful. “Gym.” Is all he says in reply.

Steve knows ‘gym’ probably also means ‘that-guy-I-work-out-with”. Steve bristles but he doesn’t know why. He quickly schools his expression into a supportive smile — it’s great Bucky has friends, really — and nods, “Well keep it up, that was awesome.”

Bucky smirks before looking back at Clint and asking, “Go again?”

“Fuck yourself.” Is Clint’s winded reply.

—

“You think maybe he’s fucking his gym-buddy?” Sam says as if asking how Steve likes the eggs the waitress just placed in front of him. Steve chokes on his own saliva.

“What!” Sam holds up his hands innocently in the wake of Steve’s murderous glare, “It’s a reasonable question! He only goes there late at night, and gets back even later. He goes every day. I dunno, sounds like a real close _buddy._ “

“C’mon man.” Steve sighs. He looks down at his breakfast and suddenly feels very not hungry.

Sam narrows his eyes at Steve’s downcast expression and takes a long sip of his coffee before asking, “Would you be pissed if he was?”

“Not pissed.” Steve says quickly, and looks back up at Sam. “I want him to be happy. Even if he does remember we used to be together, and just wouldn’t be happy with me anymore then… Fine. I’m fine with that”

Sam raises an eyebrow, “But…”

Defeated, Steve shrugs and continues, “ _But_ … You can’t expect me to be happy with the thought of the guy I’m in love with banging his gym-buddy.”

To Steve’s surprise Sam laughs. “Sorry, sorry… I just always pegged you as the jealous type. Knew I was right.”

“I’m not jealous!” Steve maybe sounds a bit whiney. Maybe.

“Why don’t you just ask him?”

 _I don’t want him to think I’m jealous_ , he thinks miserably. Sam has this terrifying ability to read his mind, because the next thing he says is a fond, “You’re a teenager sometimes, y’know that? A 99 year old man is afraid to admit to his best friend he’s still in love with him. It’s been a year since Barnes came to live with you, man. I think if he could be scared-off easily he would’ve been long gone by now.”

Steve grumbles incoherently and digs into a forkful of tasteless scrambled eggs.

Sam chuckles, “Hell if he didn’t run for the hills after meeting Tony I think a casual confession of love will be just fine.”

—

“You’re back early” Steve comments when he hears the door click open. Bucky shuffles into the kitchen and drops his gym-bag on the table with a drawn-out sigh.

“Yeah. Matty has an early morning tomorrow so he took off.” Bucky replies. He stretches his arms high above his head. Steve does _not_ watch his shirt ride up.

“Matty?” Steve asks before he can control himself. He didn’t mean to sound accusatory, either. He quickly unfurls his eyebrows, and looks up at Bucky with a soft smile.

Bucky unties his hair and shakes it out roughly, “Matt. He’s been the guy working out with me.”

Steve nods while looking back down at the kitchen table. His phone is in front of him, and he had been typing an email but now he can’t seem to remember to who, or why.

“I’m-uh…” Steve clears his throat. He looks up at Bucky who is digging through the fridge in search of a new water bottle, “I’m glad you have… Friends.”

Bucky chuckles, “Yeah me too. I’m getting tired of seeing your mug all the damn time.”

Steve rolls his eyes at the dig and presses on, despite the nagging in his chest telling him to stop, “Seriously Buck… You know I just want you to be happy. And I’m really happy you found this guy. Matty.”

Bucky downs a water bottle in two heady sips. He turns around and leans against the fridge. “Yeah.” He says breathlessly, swiping a hand across his wet mouth, “He’s great.”

Steve looks down. Resigned in the confirmation. Of coarse Bucky found someone. Bucky is a catch, and hopefully this guy — Matty — treats him as well as he deserves. This is fine. Steve is fine.

“You wanna catch up on that shitty show you force me to watch?” Bucky asks casually. He runs his metal hand through Steve’s hair as he walks past him and into their living room.

“Yeah, get it started,” Steve says after willing himself to speak, “I’ll be right there.”

Steve looks down at his email, still not sure why he opened the app to begin with. He sighs one more time, shuts off his phone, and joins Bucky on the couch.

—

“I wanna try something new this time” Bucky says to Natasha who’s collecting herself after the ass-beating she just delivered to her friend. Bucky looks winded, but determined.

Steve is sitting in his usual place, this time with Clint at his side sipping loudly on a green smoothie he swears he hates.

“Sure” She says flippantly, while retying her hair in a high bun. Bucky spins around and starts digging through his gym bag. Steve watches him — watches his metal arm calibrate, watches the firm muscles of his flesh bicep flex. Maybe he's starring a little too obviously, because Clint beside him starts to chuckle.

Bucky stands up straight again, holding a black scarf in his hand. He turns around and ignores Natasha’s curious gaze.

Without saying a word Bucky places the scarf over his eyes and ties it at the back of his head. Not a scarf — a blindfold.

“What the fuck?” Clint scoffs. Natasha raises an eyebrow and gets back into a starting stance, then waits for Bucky to do the same.

Steve doesn’t say a word. Instead he watches as Natasha throws a left hook, and Bucky ducks it gracefully. She kicks his abdomen, but he grabs her ankle and flips her onto the floor.

The fight which progresses leaves Steve’s jaw on the floor. Bucky moves with a grace that is… Oddly beautiful. He ducks, and crouches, and flips Nat over with a single arm. Steve was so caught up in the strange display, he didn’t even notice the fight end.

Bucky is the one with a knee against Natasha’s throat while she taps on his thigh with a forlorn expression. “What the _fuck?_ “ Clint repeats, louder this time.

“Buck!” Steve says breathlessly. He chuckles and shakes his head with a wide smile, “Where the hell did you learn that?“

Bucky stands up and reaches out a hand to help Nat as well. He unties the blindfold and tosses it into his bag. He looks at Steve with a private, radiant smile.

“Gym.” He says.

Steve’s smile wavers just slightly. But it’s okay. He’s fine. So Bucky’s new boyfriend is an incredible fighter. That’s fine.

It’s fine.

—

They’re clearing out a Hydra base somewhere in Romania. Steve is jogging around the surrounding area, checking the trees for any scouts they’d missed in their initial search.

“Anything, Parker?” Steve asks. Peter drops down from his spot perched on a high tree branch and shakes his head.

“Nothing, Cap.”

Steve nods and starts to continue walking forward when Peter places a firm hand on his shoulder. Despite wearing a mask, his eyes are oddly expressive. Steve could swear he’s shooting him a sad smile.

“Hey I heard about Sergeant Barnes … I’m sure he’s not really serious with this guy—“

“What the hell are you talking about?” Steve stops dead in his tracks. He glares at Peter and suddenly remembers those weekly trips Sam and Peter take to that stupid comic book store in Astoria.

(“I just like seeing what they write about Falcon, man!” had been Sam’s explanation; his and Peter’s arms stacked with colorful comic books.)

Sam is a goddamn traitor.

“I heard the Sergeant has a boyfriend—“

“Woah, woah, woah.” Comes Tony over their comms. Steve groans.

“Need I remind you all,” Natasha drawls, “we’re on a mission.“

Tony scoffs, “This takes priority, Widow. Cap’s murder-boyfriend is cheating.”

“He’s not…” Steve groans and pinches the bridge of his nose. The only Avengers on this mission are Natasha, Tony, Peter, and Steve, but if he knows anything about his team he knows word spreads faster than Tony can fly. “He’s not cheating. We’re not technically together—“

“All I’m saying,” Peter interrupts, while gently placing a red hand on Steve’s chest, “is that y’know… I’m sorry.”

“Condolences, Cap.” Tony says over the comms, “I honest-to-God have no idea how there’s another person on this planet that can put up with Barnes for longer than two seconds.”

“Watch it.” Steve groans before he can stop himself.

“I swear,” Natasha groans, “I should’ve just stayed with Red Room.”

—

“No way.” Bruce shakes his head. He has his arms crossed while he paces in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows of Stark Tower’s communal lounge, “No way James has a boyfriend.”

Steve is sitting on the couch, his head in his hands; mortified. Sam is on the arm chair opposite him, shaking his head in disagreement, “I mean it all adds up. Steve what did he say exactly?“

“He said he had a, y’know...” Steve keeps his head down and shrugs, “A _friend._ “

“That means nothing!” Wanda scoffs from her spot on the floor. She looks up from her nails and shakes her head at Sam, “So he has a friend! You’re all making a big deal out of nothing—“

“Nothing!” Tony scoffs. “How is this nothing? The Winter Soldier, _the Winter fucking Soldier_ , has a boyfriend. This is a massive deal.”

“ _If_.” Rhodey says and holds up a finger to silence Tony from interrupting, “ _If_ he has a boyfriend... Which even if he does it still isn’t a big deal.”

“It is for Steven.” Thor replies.

Steve is glaring at his shoes. When Tony said they had an ‘important meeting involving an End-Of-The-Universe crisis’ he was not expecting to walk into an intervention. Well, more of an interrogation, but really the two are synonymous with his teammates.

Vision has remained fairly quiet, and Clint is definitely asleep behind his dark sunglasses. Peter is shooting Steve pathetic sympathy-frowns, and Natasha is glaring at all of those who disagree with her. Somehow even Scott Lang got involved, and he’s just been trying to offer Steve unprompted words of advice. Most of this advice starting with “y’know, when _my_ wife left me…” as if Steve needs to hear that.

Honestly, it’s not a big deal.

“Clearly it is.” Tony says after Steve says such out loud, “you’ve been walking around like a kicked dog. Pathetic, really. Like I sort of…” He frowns in thought before saying slowly, “Feel bad for you. Is this… Empathy? Rhodey, I think something is wrong — am I having a heart attack?”

“No, sir.” Vision says cooly, “Your vitals are perfectly fine.”

“Can I just say,” Peter begins to say. But at that moment, the elevator doors chime open and in wafts the sound of Bucky’s husky laughter. They all go quiet, and for a team of superheroes and spies, they’re all so painfully obvious.

“So as you can _see_ —“

“Ha. Ha.”

“—this is Stark Tower. This is the communal lounge.” Bucky is saying to an unseen third party. He walks in slowly; Steve can hear his heavy footsteps, and a second pair following close behind. There’s also the soft tapping of… A cane?

They all turn to watch as Bucky walks beside a man slightly shorter than himself. The man has brown hair, a scruffy face, and small dark sunglasses.

The man is very obviously blind.

“So this where the Avengers all just… Chill out?” The man asks. Bucky chuckles again; the sound is so foreign in its genuineness and ease.

“I guess so, yeah. I mean Stark throws some dumb galas here and shit too… Speak of the devil.” Bucky greets them all with a lopsided smile. Then he takes in the sheer number of them, and his eyebrows pinch in curious concern, “Speak of… _All_ the devils, actually. What’s goin’ on?”

“Nothing.” Peter replies too fast. Steve groans.

“Planning your surprise party.” The man holding Bucky’s arm says, “Or planning the best way to fire you.”

Bucky gently removes his arm from the blind man’s grip and pats him on the back fondly, “Guys this is Matt Murdock. Matt, these are the world's greatest heroes, or whatever.”

Steve’s heart clenches in his chest. Maybe he looks a bit too much like a deer in headlights because Natasha beside him gently jabs him with her elbow. He swallows, regaining his poorly thrown together composure and says, “Pleasure, I’m Steve Rogers.”

Matt turns in his direction and raises a hand in greeting, “Pleasure to finally put a face to the name… Or well… A voice.”

Bucky cackles beside him.

Bucky continues introducing Matt to the rest of the people in the room while Steve shamelessly sizes him up.

He’s well-built, well-dressed, and well-mannered. And dammit he’s handsome. His smile is particularly radiating. Steve looks down and realizes his own fists are clenched.

“Alright c’mon,” Bucky says abruptly while gently tugging on Matt’s elbow, “lemme show you the gym. I think you’ll be impressed.”

Matt scoffs, as if the idea is simply preposterous, “You know I have high standards for gyms, Sergeant.”

Bucky rolls his eyes and their playful banter follow them back to the elevator. The room is once again silent. Steve purposefully does not look at anyone.

Tony breaks the silence (as usual).

“Not gonna lie, I was _totally_ expecting him to be blind.”

—

Steve does not look like a kicked dog. He’s having drinks in a hole-in-the-wall dive bar with Bucky, and Bucky’s new friends and goddamnit he does not look like a kicked dog.

Matt had gotten up to use the bathroom, and his friend, Karen, hopped up to help him maneuver the slightly-crowded Hell’s Kitchen bar. Their other friend, Foggy (“Please don’t call me Franklin.” was the blonde mans introduction, and Steve laughed before he could help himself) took the opportunity to grab them another pint from the bar.

Bucky turns and shoots an accusatory glare at Steve’s profile, “What’s up?”

“Huh?” Steve is already blushing. Already blowing his cover.

“What’s up? You seem down.”

“I’m not.”

Steve stares down at the dingy wood top of their table. He should not be jealous. He has no right. Bucky is happy, and goddamnit he’s a terrible best friend for letting his emotions get in the way of just being happy for him.

“Steve...” Bucky presses, leaning in closer to him.

He looks up at Bucky with a half-smile and says, “I’m just happy for you, Buck. I really am.”

Bucky is still glaring at him, but Karen and Matt are back and Foggy returns close behind.

Steve does not look like a kicked dog.

—

Bucky has always made Steve a better fighter. Whether it was the drive to protect his best friend, or the subconscious need to impress him, Bucky has always unknowingly pushed Steve to be faster, stronger, and better.

The A.I.M base the team is currently infiltrating is giving Steve a serious case of deja vu. They’re in England, far up north and thankfully miles away from any civilian populations. The air is damp, and the surrounding shrubbery is thick and fruitful in the spring season.

“Reminds you of the war, doesn’t it?” Bucky asks over the comms, as if reading Steve’s mind.

He scoffs and replies, “I swear I can still smell Dum’s morning breathe.” Bucky laughs quietly on the other end. The rest of the team is quiet.

Clint and Natasha are somewhere further behind, and Bucky is perpetually always invisibly at his six. Tony is trying not to draw attention to himself so he’s far above the rest of them, flying as low as he can while also remaining undetectable to any potential radars.

The base of A.I.M agents must be fairly new, because when shots ring out Steve can practically hear the eagerness in the pull of their triggers. _Rookies_ , he thinks to himself. With the gunshots, the team moves in. There are Stark agents covering their flanks while Tony starts making an entrance for them. It doesn’t take long.

Steve uses his shield to take out a few agents while barging through the entrance of the base. He’s nearly surrounded, but as he takes in the number of agents coming his way, he notices them start to drop like flies. Steve spares a glance behind him, and spots a familiar silhouette in the distance.

“Thanks, Buck.” He says breathlessly, while handling the remaining agents heading towards him.

He continues making his way through, barking orders at Natasha to take the left side and meet him down in the basement — from there, they’ll hook up the bombs Tony had built for them and get the hell out of dodge. Clint is heading towards the roof to look out for incoming back-up, and Wanda is laying low while sticking by Bucky.

Moving forward and clearing out an enemy base has become as familiar to Steve as breathing. Even when he was a shrimpy kid, violence was second-nature to him. Throwing up his fists and spitting blood out of the corner of his mouth was his solace — maybe some kind of catharsis — and it felt right.

Bucky never thought of him like that. Bucky would give him this gentle smile, and wrap his strong arms around his shoulders and say something corny like, “you’re my very best guy, y’know that?” Steve would huff and puff and shove him off; Bucky laughing fondly the entire time. Bucky never saw him as the war-machine he had always been. Bucky saw him as… Well, Steve doesn’t really know. All he knows is that he liked it. He still does, actually.

“Cap,” Natasha’s voice crackles over the feeds, “left is clear. I’m heading down now”

“Copy.” Steve replies, while flinging his shield at the three upcoming cronies. The shield ricochets of the wall, knocks the three out, then comes swinging back to him. Only once did Steve make the mistake of thanking his shield out loud. A quick little “ _Good job, buddy._ ” that had Sam laughing maniacally for days afterwards.

He continues to run forward.

(The war was the same thing — Bucky constantly looking at him like he was something so much more. He looked at Steve like he was more than just a superhero, and more than just an ambitious kid. Bucky always had big eyes for Steve — big dreams, big goals, big everything. It should’ve felt like a lot of pressure, but it never did. It was a security-blanket. It was a constant, _if Bucky thinks I can, then I can_.)

They do their jobs, like the world’s greatest heroes are supposed to, and Steve listens to the sound of fireworks behind them. They’re in the quinjet, Steve trying to pat his hair down after taking off his helmet. Bucky walks up beside him and tosses a soft arm around his shoulders.

“You did good, Rogers.” He says a bit breathlessly. Steve smiles and looks down at his boots.

“Easy when I got you behind me.” He replies.

Bucky chuckles breathlessly, “You realize the amount of dirty jokes I can make with that, right? When you got me ‘behind you’ you, say?” Well—”

“Don’t start” Steve groans, despite the ridiculous amount of endearment lacing his tone. God it feels so damn normal. It feels like they’re standing on the shaky J train — Bucky standing too close to him while they lean against the doors. Bucky whispering in his ear the filthiest jokes he can think of. Bucky laughing giddily as Steve sputters and chokes over his weak protests.

Sometimes, when the train was empty, Bucky’d lead over and plant a kiss right on Steve’s lips — kissing all that shock clean out of him. If the train wasn’t empty, Bucky would wait till they were back at their apartment and it would be more than just a kiss.

Bucky laughs beside him, here in the 21st century, then slaps a hand on his back before walking away to join Clint and Natasha at the front.

—

Steve has his head-bowed as he walks into the Stark elevator. He’s completely consumed in his smart-phone while he tries, and fails, to figure out how to make this stupid _bitmoji_ or whatever. Peter and Sam had ambushed him and demanded he make one — Steve only relented when he saw even Peter Quill from wherever-the-hell-he-is in space has a _bitmoji_.

“Steve, how’s it going?” A familiar voice asks beside him when the doors shut. Steve looks up, instantly feeling rude, and smiles at the man beside him.

Oh. It’s Matt. Which is fine, of course.

Why wouldn’t it be fine?

“Oh, hey Matt.” He says while looking down at his feet. Matt has a gym bag over his shoulder, and his hands rest on his cane.

“You should come work out with us,” Matt says, “Bucky invited me here so I can try sparring with your teammate, Clint. He tried to offer up Black Widow, but I am not suicidal so I think I’ll pass on that one—"

“Hey Matt, I-uh…” Steve has this confidence pounding through him, and if he doesn't’ speak up now he never will. The elevator is heading up towards the gym, which gives Steve no more than a minute to get his point across, “Y’know I love Bucky. And-uh… I’m real happy for you two. But y’know, I’ve been in love with Bucky since I was eight years old. I’m not gonna try to… Get in your way, or anything. Because my main priority is Bucky’s happiness. So I guess what I’m trying to say is… I’m sorry I’ve been kinda awkward with you, but you have to see where I’m coming from. I’m fixing that, though. I am. And I just… Wish you guys the best.”

The doors open, and Steve doesn’t glance back at Matt because maybe he’s a coward in regard to his feelings. (No, he’s a coward in regard to Bucky.)

He practically storms ahead, ignoring Thor who is shouting at him from the treadmill, and instead goes right up to bury himself in paperwork in the lounge.

—

Steve is consumed in his Stark tablet, filling out the recent mission reports he’s been neglecting. Rhodey and Tony are over by the windows, passing a tablet between the two of them. Thor and Sam are comparing phone apps on the couch opposite, and Natasha is reading a book probably twice the size of the bible. Wanda is painting Peter’s toenails on the floor.

All-in-all, there are enough Avengers in the room to make the next few moments the most embarrassing of Steve’s life.

“Steve, what the _fuck_!” Bucky shouts when the elevator doors slide open. Everyone jumps — save Natasha who has probably never been surprised in her life. Steve drops his tablet on his lap and watches as Bucky comes storming up the stairs and rounds the couch to glare at Steve.

“Huh?” Steve asks eloquently.

“I said...” Bucky growls, “ _What the fuck_. Why did you give Matty your _blessing_?”

Was that what he did? In that context Steve can see how maybe that was overstepping. Yeah it was probably weird for Bucky’s former-partner to be giving his current-partner a ‘go-ahead’ to continue dating. Okay so maybe he should’ve thought that out more, but it felt like the right thing to do at the time—

“How long have you thought him and I were dating, you goddamn moron?” Bucky snaps. Everyone is looking at them now — gawking, actually.

“Hey, c’mon man,” Sam supplies like the amazing friend he is, “you can’t expect this to just be easy on him, y’know? Like sure you guys dated other people back in the 40’s just to cover your tracks but this is different—”

“Wait a minute…” Bucky holds up his metal hand and does a slow look-around of the rest of the room. He takes in everyone’s startled expressions and asks, “How many of you think Matt and I are dating?”

Bucky’s answer is everyone’s silence. He scrubs a hand down his face before pinching the bridge of his nose, “Steve did you seriously tell everyone…”

Steve sits up straight. He looks at Bucky’s downcast expression and matches it with his own; “I didn’t tell everyone but y’know. Word got around—”

“So you decided not to inform anyone that _we’re_ partners? That we’ve been together this entire goddamn time? Or… Wait a minute.” Bucky’s expression drops into something along the lines of disbelief. “Do you… You don’t think we’re together, do you?”

Steve’s mouth opens and closes a few times — like a fish out of water. He swallows, collects his spiraling thoughts, and asks — admittedly, breathless — “We’re still together? I thought… I didn’t want to pressure you, Buck. Wait, you remembered we used to be, y’know, romantically involved?”

“We’ve had sex!” Bucky cries in disbelief. “We’ve banged numerous times since I moved in last year, Steve-” Peter groans from the floor, and Tony, goddamnit, is recording on his phone, “Steve we… We sleep in the same bed!”

Natasha groans, “Oh you’ve got to be kidding me.” She glances at Steve with unwavering disdain, “You are so dense.”

“I thought you just wanted the comfort!” Steve cries in his own defense, “I just thought… Y’know you get nightmares...”

Bucky clenches his jaw and raises an eyebrow, “And me sucking you off in the shower last week was just for ‘comfort’—”

“Alright!” Sam claps his hands together before getting up and retreating to the back kitchen, “These are a bunch of mental images I do _not_ want.”

“I do!” Tony chirps, “I do want these mental images so please, Barnes, continue.”

“Steve...” Bucky levels him with a glare, ignoring everyone else in the room, “We tell eachother ‘I love you’ frequently.”

“Because I do!” Steve cries while throwing his hands up in defeat, “I do love you! Not just romantically! I just love you, so what’s wrong with saying that!”

“Nothing, Steve. But when we say we love eachother, sleep in the same bed, _and_ have sex, don’t you think all those things mean we’re _dating_.” Bucky looks less angry and more disbelieving. He’s known Steve for over 80 years, he really shouldn’t be surprised at this point.

Steve sputters and eventually can form a coherent, “I just didn’t want to pressure you by bringing it up incase you didn’t remember.”

“I can’t believe you.” Wanda says from the floor. She’s watching the exchange like it’s a particularly engaging tennis-match. Peter looks horrified. Thor is laughing wondrously from the couch because; “It’s wonderful, Steven! You have your true love all for yourself! And you didn’t even realize it! Haha!”

Tony has stopped recording and is now holding his phone to his ear. He holds up a finger to quiet Steve’s complaints over his lack of discretion, and speaks excitedly into the phone; “Drax? Put me on speaker, everyone is gonna wanna hear this. Remember I told you guys about the Winter Soldier’s blind-and-ruggedly-sexy boyfriend?” Tony walks off to finish his conversation.

Bucky stares at Tony’s retreating from. He shuts his eyes and sets his jaw before asking, “Even the Guardians of _the fucking Galaxy_ think I’m dating Matt? Matt who is straight and happily with someone—”

“Wade told Logan, too.” Peter says from the floor.

“Not helping, Parker.” Steve groans.

“Hey, Steve.” Bucky says dryly.

“Yeah, Buck?”

“You’re a goddamn idiot.”

“Yeah I know.”

—

“So you were just… Letting me cheat on my ‘boyfriend’ with you?” Bucky asks from their couch. Steve walks from the kitchen with two newly popped bags of popcorn. He hands one to Bucky and settles himself on the opposite side of the couch with his own.

“I mean…” Steve shrugs. How is he supposed to say this reasonably? “Yeah.” Great job, Rogers.

Bucky furrows his eyebrows and stares down at the bag in his lap. “Here you were thinkin’ I had a boyfriend, and still letting me sleep in the same bed as you. Still letting me blow you—”

“Okay, hold on.” Steve says through a mouthful of popcorn. The TV is still running across from them, but as much as Steve wants to watch the latest Judge Judy (because yes he DVR’s Judge Judy) this conversation takes precedence. “We’ve been sleeping in the same bed practically since I met you. Even in the war when we were supposed to be ‘discreet’ we still slept beside each other—”

“Steve you spoon me—”

“I can’t be held accountable for what I do in my sleep, Bucky. But anyways, I just... “ Steve sits up straighter and levels Bucky with a long stare before starting again, “I just got you back, and I didn’t want to push you away. Coming back after 70 years and just throwing a relationship at you seemed like a lot. I didn’t know what to think about the sexual stuff… I didn’t know if you were just in the mood, or if you remembered a bit of what we used to be. Either way, I just… I got you back, I wasn’t gonna start questioning it. I was happy, you seemed happy, so I just…” Steve shrugs, because he can’t think of anything else to say.

Bucky looks like he gets it (because Bucky always gets Steve) “You were the first thing I remembered, y’know that?”

Steve’s heart lurches in his chest. He kicks his feet up onto Bucky’s lap and reaches forward to punch his shoulder lightly, “You gettin’ sappy on me?”

Bucky rolls his eyes and turns his attention back to the TV, “Oh shut up, Rogers. You’re the one that can’t even step foot on an above-ground train anymore. Even though _I_ was the one who died on one—”

“Hey, hey.” Steve scowls and looks down at his own lap, “C’mon you know I hate talking about that.”

Bucky tosses his head back and laughs. He reaches for the remote on the coffee table, and turns up the volume on the TV.

(He makes comments throughout the show, because Bucky’s always been terrible at keeping quiet while watching a picture.)

They finish the popcorn, shower (together), then it’s nearly midnight when they finally make it to bed. Bucky makes himself comfortable against Steve’s chest — his hair tickling the column of Steve’s throat.

“Y’know, you handled me having a boyfriend way better than I would’ve...” Bucky hums while tossing his arm around Steve’s abdomen. “If you all of a sudden got yourself a man I think I’d end up shooting him… But I swear, I ain’t the jealous type, sweetheart.”

Steve kisses the top of his head and falls asleep smiling.

— the end

**Author's Note:**

> kudos and comments are much appreciated :-)
> 
> you can also find me on [tumblr](http://captainshmerica.tumblr.com) and [twitter](http://twitter.com/sxgittarius)


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